McHale's Navy (TV Series) Little Red Riding Doctor (1966) User Reviews

Binghamton claims the 73 crew has battle fatigue.

[kfo9494 · 8/10 · 25 November 2014]

Don Knotts makes a guest appearance in this episode as a doctor, Lt Pratt, looking for battle fatigue soldiers to ship back to the States for treatment. When Binghamton hears about Lt Pratt being in the area and is ready to sail the following evening, he thinks of a way to get rid of the 73 crew. He tells Pratt that the entire unit of boat 73 has battle fatigue and wants him to look at them.

Even after being overly worked by Binghamton, Lt Pratt finds nothing wrong with the crew. But with the crew set to perform a 'Red Riding Hood' play at the festival in town, Binghamton again calls Pratt to view the crew in their costumes. Not knowing anything about the festival, Pratt declares that the men have battle fatigue and is sending them to the ship that sails in a few hours. Binghamton thinks he has won.

If anything, this was a fresh script from the writers and not the rehashed stories that we have received in some of the last episodes. And with the fresh story, it proved to be an interesting tale that kept the viewer's attention the entire time. Don Knotts was fine in the role of the medical doctor but with his limited time on the screen, nothing stood out as anything remarkable. It was a nice story that was entertaining to watch. And as we approach the end of the series, that makes for an good show.

Ensign Parker meets Deputy Fife--too bad the show was so bad

[FlushingCaps · 4/10 · 6 December 2020]

We begin in the town square where the "assistant mayor" Dino-not named here-is announcing the townspeople's choice as "King" with the election being between Binghamton and McHale. It is for the town's 500th anniversary. McHale is elected and Binghamton acts like a spoiled child.

We also hear that the whole crew is supposed to put on a play for the kids based on the Little Red Riding Hood story. Before we get to that, we see Binghamton in his office still being a brat, actually being spoon fed his lunch by Elroy because the babylike captain just wants to sit and pout and won't eat. In comes a visiting lieutenant psychiatrist played by Don Knotts. When Binghamton learns he is looking for serious cases of battle fatigue, to send the victims home on a hospital ship, he asks the shrink to come back in a few days.

The captain's evil plan is to send the 73 out on one long mission after another so they'll be exhausted when the doctor gets to examine them. When he returns, everyone is sleeping but they wake up Mr. Parker and we go into what is perceived as a basic psychiatric exam where the doctor asks about hating your mother, sucking thumbs, and other bad childhood memories. Parker passes by answering the way the doctor wants to hear, so Binghamton is frustrated that the doctor thinks the men are all just sleepy.

Then the captain sees the men trying on their costumes for their little play and thinks he can get what he wants in a different way. After conning McHale to go to another town for yet another conference, he tells the crew that there's a visiting officer from special services auditioning men for an Italian tour putting on shows. He gets them to act out their play when the doctor comes back.

This time the doctor buys it and has all the men, including Parker, jump onto the truck, while still in costume, ready to go tour. But Fuji has heard enough and he is just lucky enough that McHale phones from Voltafiore so Fuji can tell him about Binghamton's latest double-cross. McHale schemes with the townspeople, and when Binghamton and the doctor pull up with the truck with McHale's men in the back, they go into action.

They now announce there was a miscount and that Binghamton is really the "King" and they take him away to be dressed like a king, etc. McHale gets the doctor to phone for a colonel to come, and then chews out his men for falling for another Binghamton trap and then tells them what to do-which of course, we don't hear.

When the colonel gets there, he gets to meet the captain, wearing his robe, holding his scepter, hollering about being the king and telling him about the patients in the back of the truck. When the colonel asks for the doctor, he is released, wearing the Little Red Riding Hood outfit, ranting about having all these other fairy tale characters in the truck. But when the crew comes out, they are in their dress whites-delivered moments ago.

So, in another cartoon-like ending, Binghamton and the doctor are taken away, as the colonel believes they need the psychiatric help. There is a tag scene where Binghamton rows up in a rubber boat to McHale and his men, two days later, hollering that he's going to get them back for all they did.

Problems I had with the script: With a town full of citizens they know and live with, why would the people of the town only be voting for king between two American candidates? Second: Given his general attitude toward the townsfolk, why would Binghamton really care if he got elected king? Third: Why would Comfleet be sending a psychiatrist all around trying to find signs of battle fatigue, instead of letting each base commander report any observances of same? Fourth: Why on earth would Binghamton think that merely sending the men on consecutive missions so they go 2 days without sleep, somehow make the doctor think they have battle fatigue? He found exactly what you would expect-very tired sailors.

When the shrink sees the men acting out the play, he somehow concludes they have battle fatigue without even talking to one of them. This truly makes no sense. The later actions by both doctor and captain were just plain cartoonlike-silly.

So we again have a script basically written for kids, one that gets sillier and sillier as the episode continues. Due to a couple of laughs, I give it a 4, possibly just because I enjoyed seeing Tim Conway and Don Knotts acting together, years before they made feature films together.